Roscoe Mitchell is the rare jazz musician who also moves comfortably within
the realm of contemporary classical music. Mitchell's improvisations
exercise extraordinary discipline and intellectual rigor. He's at once a
patient and impulsive improviser, prone to alternating episodes of order
and chaos, clarity and complexity. Mitchell is a technically superb -- if
idiosyncratic -- saxophonist. His tone on alto and soprano tends to be edgy
and brittle. At his most lyrical, Mitchell's saxophone lines exploit the
instrument's strength as an interval-making machine; his improvised
melodies often bear similarity to works by the classical composer Morton
Feldman, though Mitchell's music is more overtly emotional. At his most
energetic, Mitchell takes advantage of the saxophone's timbral flexibility
and the horn's natural tendencies, which allow a player to play fast,
scalar lines. Whether playing soft or loud, slow or fast, Mitchell's
playing is invariably suffused with passion and intensity.

Mitchell played saxophone and clarinet as a teenager. While stationed in
Germany as a member of the Army, Mitchell played in a band with tenor
saxophone innovator Albert Ayler. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1961,
Mitchell played bop with a group of Wilson Junior College students which
included bassist Malachi Favors and saxophonists Joseph Jarman, Henry
Threadgill, and Anthony Braxton. Mitchell began listening to the recordings
of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. He studied with pianist/composer
Muhal Richard Abrams. In 1962, he began playing in Abrams' newly organized
Experimental Band, a rehearsal group which explored many of the
contemporary alternatives to conventional jazz improvisation and
composition. In 1965, he became one of the first members of the Association
for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a nonprofit organization
established by Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and
composer Phil Cohran. The AACM were devoted to the same principles as the
Experimental Band. In 1966, Mitchell's sextet (with trumpeter Lester Bowie,
tenor saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, bassist Favors, trombonist
Lester Lashley, and drummer Alvin Fiedler) became the first AACM group to
record. Abstract in concept and execution, the album, Sound (Delmark), was
an in-depth examination of the interaction between sound and silence,
utilizing such unorthodox devices as spontaneous collective improvisation,
toy instruments, and non-musical noise. By 1967, the Roscoe Mitchell Art
Ensemble consisted of the leader, Favors, trumpeter Lester Bowie, and
drummer Phillip Wilson. That combination did not record; Wilson was
replaced by Jarman, and in 1969 the group traveled to Europe. The sojourn
was very successful. The band -- renamed the Art Ensemble of Chicago --
recorded extensively, particularly in France. The resulting albums formed
the initial basis of their reputation.

Mitchell played briefly in St. Louis upon returning to the United States in
1971. He then resettled in Chicago. Around 1974 he established the Creative
Arts Collective. Based in East Lansing, MI, the group was similar in
purpose to the AACM. The '70s found Mitchell expanding on his solo
saxophone concept, working with his AACM cohorts in various combinations
and performing with the Art Ensemble. The latter group became possibly the
most highly acclaimed jazz band of the next two decades, winning critics'
polls with regularity. In the '80s and '90s, Mitchell also led the Sound
Ensemble, who included members of his Creative Arts Collective. In the
'90s, Mitchell branched out even more, collaborating more frequently with
such classical composer/performers as Pauline Oliveros and Thomas Buckner.
As an improvising composer, Mitchell's use of unusual sonorities and his
embrace of quiet sounds helped define an entire jazz subgenre.

Mitchell has received numerous awards and grants including the National
Endowment for the Arts, Wisconsin Arts Board, Vilas Foundation, University
of Wisconsin-Madison and a research grant from Institut de Recherche et
Coordination Acoustique Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. His most recent
CD, Solo 3, released in 2004, consisted of three discs, each intended to
stand on its own with one focusing entirely on alto saxophone, another
featuring work within a percussion cage, and the third consisting of a
series of overdubbed solos. Mathew Sumera writes about Solo 3 "Often times
what one hears within a Mitchell performance are a variety of layers that
have little if nothing to do with each other�the only thing holding them
together is the all-at-the-same-time of performance. It is not that he
lacks the ability to strive toward a unified statement; again, he simply
chooses not to. Unity can just as easily be achieved without compromise,
without modifying the personality of a single statement�simply place one
against the other. It is not some sort of smashed, forced, postmodern
sensibility. It is a commitment to the fact that sounds exist together. We
hear simultaneity." (adapted from Chris Kelsey at allmusic.com)

Joseph Jarman is cofounder of Chicago's famed AACM (Association for the
Advancement of Creative Musicians) founded in 1965 and a member of the Art
Ensemble of Chicago from 1969 to 1993. He has performed, toured and
recorded in all parts of the Western world as well as in Japan and Eastern
Europe. In 2001 he was invited by the Mayor of Chicago as an honored guest
composer and performer, and to the Dogen Country in Mali by invitation of
the French Consulate for a special project of music and art with Dogen
artists and Western Artists (Leroy Jenkins, Thomas Buckner, and Alain
Kirili).

Best known as a saxophonist, Mr. Jarman plays all the woodwinds and many
percussion instruments, including vibes, marimba, balophone, and an array of
bells, gongs and little instruments. Mr. Jarman has also worked
extensively in Music/theater and is largely responsible for its development
as a means of expression in new music. As a writer and poet, Joseph Jarman
has published in Black Scholar, Dada Artist, New World and other books and
magazines. He has also written the liner notes for many Art Ensemble of
Chicago recordings.

Mr. Jarman studied music at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and Chicago
Teachers College. He has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants,
including several NEA grants, New York State Council grants for composition.
In 1984 he received an interacts grant with Jessica Hagdorn, Blondell
Cummings and John Woo for The Art of War. He also had a grant in 1999 from
the British Arts Council. Mr. Jarman has received numerous first place
awards from Downbeat Critics Polls. He is a member of the National Jazz
Educators, Composers Forum, and Jazz Institute of Chicago (Life member).
Mr. Jarman is an honorary lifetime member of the Chicago Jazz Society and is
an honorary citizen of the city of Atlanta, GA and Madison, Wisconsin.

In 1990 Mr. Jarman was ordained a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Priest and also
holds the rank of Godan (5th degree) black belt in the martial art of
Aikido. He now directs the Jikishinkan Aikido Dojo and Brooklyn Buddhist
Association. Mr. Jarman's most recent recordings include Pachinko Dream
track 10 on Music @ Arts Records; Return of the Lost Tribe - Delmark
Records; Out of the Mist - Ocean records; and Lifetime Visions for the
Magnificent Human - Bopbuda Music.

Performance begins at 7:00 p.m.
Grounds open 2 hours prior to show time for picnicking.

Stacked public parking is available at the Ford for $5. Non-stacked FREE parking is available at the Universal City Metro Station lot at Lankershim Blvd. and Campo de Cahuenga. A FREE shuttle to the Ford stops in the "kiss and ride" area and cycles every 15 to 20 minutes. Please see www.FordAmphitheatre.org for map.

The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS)is supported in part through grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. the West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, a special donation from Amoeba Music and the generous contributions of our members. For further information on SASSAS: www.sassas.org or contact us at 323.960.5723.

Contribute to
SASSAS at the $50 level and receive a copy of soundCd no. 1 or soundCd no. 2
as well as discounts for sound.